Martin Scorsese recently penned an op-ed letter exploring and extrapolating the comments he made in which he called Marvel movies "theme parks," eventually doubling down on those sentiments. Now Jeffrey Ford -- an editor who has worked on eight movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe -- has shared his thoughts on the matter.
Ford admitted that, although Scorsese has a point, the stories being told within the MCU all have narrative and character legitimacy.
"I do think that Scorsese makes an interesting point, when he argues we really do need to get back to the notion of cinema as community and being on audience member seeing an artistic expression on screen,” Ford said during IndieWire’s Consider This FYC Brunch. Recalling watching Avengers: Endgame with an audience, he said, "I do know when I saw it with an audience, there was a profound emotional reaction."
Despite Scorsese’s claims that MCU movies lack “revelation, mystery, or genuine emotional danger,” Avengers: Endgame surpassed 2009's Avatar to become highest-grossing movie of all time, raking in approximately $2.8 billion worldwide.
"That’s the nature of modern film franchises: market-researched, audience-tested, vetted, modified, revetted and remodified until they’re ready for consumption," Scorsese noted in his op-ed, reiterating his stance that MCU movies are cookie-cutter corporate creations as opposed to character-driven narratives with an emotional core that audiences connect with.
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Don Cheadle as War Machine, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Danai Gurira as Okoye and Bradley Cooper as Rocket, with Gwyneth Paltrow Pepper Potts, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Benedict Wong as Wong, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie and Josh Brolin as Thanos. The film is now available on Digital HD, Blu-ray and 4K UHD.